Page:An Epistle to Posterity.djvu/148

Rh New York to Washington; was Secretary of the Navy; afterwards American Minister to England. His party having gone out of power, he retreated to his books for the day, but spent his evenings in society. The energetic historian's lamp was lighted at five on winter mornings, and when called to breakfast he had already done a noble day's work. Later on Mr. Bancroft became our Minister to Germany, and was complimented by Bismarck on his perfect German.

He seemed never to forget anything, nor to need any other amusement than that which he could always provide for himself. He rode horseback daily, and never, until he was eighty, had he even been troubled with a headache. This was one evening at Washington, when I heard him complain, of a dizziness in the head. He was a very peculiar man, and had some stiff mannerisms. His career had been not unlike that of Everett. He went to Gottingen as a young man from his father's parsonage. He acquired his tendency for historical research from Heeren, Eichhorn, and Schlosser. For several years he was at the head of the Round Hill Academy for boys at Northampton, where he had for one of his pupils the witty Tom Appleton, and for his undermaster Dr. Cogswell, afterwards the learned first curator of the Astor Library. He must have been a severe master, for "Uncle Tom Appleton" used to tell stories of his school days and say, "Mr. Cogswell, whom I loved, and Mr. Bancroft, whom I didn't." But Mr. Bancroft grew exceedingly amiable in his old age, as men seldom do. He was always most charming to me and kind to every one.

It was an epoch in my life when I first heard Charles Sumner. This most honored man of Boston was delivering his bold and fiery invectives against slavery in the